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(Editor's note: This story has change since it was originally published to correct the departure date of the rescue tugboat from Neah Bay. The tug will remain on duty until May 3.)

For the eighth consecutive year, the Legislature failed to nail down a permanent way to fund a rescue tugboat that prevents oil spills in sensitive Washington waters. Legislators' new approach this year: Let's hope the federal government will take care of it.

Lawmakers also balked at a request to build up the state's oil-spill watchdog council, leaving it with two staffers -- just half the number of, for example, the Washington Beef Commission.

To raise more money for oil-spill prevention, legislators debated whether to boost petroleum taxes by a penny or two for every 44-gallon barrel of oil processed at Washington refineries. But oil company lobbyists succeeded in beating that idea down, saying their tankers are far from the only risk for oil spills.

"The governor's not interested in a competitive, conflict-oriented approach to this," said Keith Phillips, Gregoire's environmental-affairs adviser. "She'd like to see us do it with what she calls the Washington way, where we sit down and agree to work things out."

Environmentalist Bruce Wishart of the group People for Puget Sound called the failure to augment the rescue tug's funding "extremely disappointing ... and especially ironic because the tug has been so successful this year."

The tug is stationed at Neah Bay, near Washington's northwest corner, in the winter and spring to aid ships in trouble that could otherwise run aground and spill oil.

It saved two stricken vessels last month, and aided more than 30 since 1999. Yet its last day on duty is May 3. Then it returns next fall. But no funding was set aside to keep it operating after that deployment.

Instead, state officials are looking to Sen. Maria Cantwell, head of a subcommittee in the Senate that oversees Coast Guard funding. She has advocated making the oil industry pay for the tug.

Another possibility, say Gregoire and legislators, is the federal government picking up the costs, about $8,000 a day. They would also like the tug available all year long.

Even aside from the tug, the state faces shortfalls in its regular program for heading off oil spills. But the Legislature failed to plug the funding gap.

The state recently has augmented caches of oil-spill-cleanup equipment, dispatched extra inspectors to watch when oil is pumped near water, and taken other steps to help reduce the likelihood of a spill. But those efforts are outpacing available state funding by $2 million a year, Phillips said. Another estimate placed the overall shortfall at $7 million a year.

Instead of raising a nickel-a-barrel tax on oil processed in the state by a penny or two, Gregoire and legislative budgeters decided to use reserves. They will hold an "oil-spill summit" this summer to try to agree how to fund the increased protections. Lawmakers also ordered a study of Ecology's oil-spill program.

The state's oil-spill watchdog council was created after two spills in central Puget Sound that attracted lots of public attention.

Independent from Ecology, the council called for doubling the state's spill-prevention efforts -- and paying for it by boosting oil and gasoline taxes by 0.000392 percent, or less than three-hundredths of a penny per gallon.

As part of that, the watchdog council sought to boost its budget from about $260,000 a year to about $850,000 a year. The Legislature left the council's basic budget the same, although it did allocate an extra $100,000 a year for consultants to do some of the work the council says is necessary.

Mike Cooper, the former legislator who is chairman of the oil-spill council, said, "I've been there, and I can understand why the governor and Legislature were reluctant to give us that big jump."

But, Cooper said, the request for the larger budget increase "was based on the fact that the Legislature gave us a long list of things we're supposed to be doing, and some of those we're concerned we won't get to."

"It's duplicative. There was an advisory council in place and this (new independent) council was put in place to do some review and analysis and produce a report for the Legislature," said Frank Holmes, WSPA's Washington representative. "They've done what they were established to do. Now it's time to get back to a normal operating business program."

As for the rescue tug and other state efforts, oil companies have pointed out that they operate tankers with a very good safety record, and that most spills come from other vessels.

"We will clearly be willing to pay our fair share, but there needs to be a closer look at all the parties contributing to the costs of the state's efforts," Holmes said.

"Fishing vessels, recreational vessels, container ships, the municipal sewage plants, the storm water runoff -- all of those are sources of oil in the water. We're looking to have those other parties share in the cost of the program."